public
spaces
urban living
In the
publIc
the British census of 1851 recorded half of the population of
the country as living in towns, the first society in human history to
realm
do so. Today, for the first time ever, half of the world’s population
lives in urban areas. by 2030, that is expected to hit 60 per cent.
as the urban population grows, the competing demands of
business, transport, the environment and infrastructure must all
Public spaces – those locations that
be addressed. road users want improved traffic flow and minimal
disruption, while everyone demands well-maintained surfaces.
sit between the buildings in which
at the same time, individual road users are becoming increasingly
we work and live – have often been
aware of how they are affected by public spaces. across Europe,
pedestrians and cyclists are putting pressure on city planners to
forgotten as the urban landscape
account for their needs.
has grown up around us. From
but what do you do when dealing with a landmark urban
thoroughfare, or a disused space that has tremendous commercial
Oxford Circus in london to potential? How do you balance the needs of numerous stakeholders
the almada Docks in Portugal,
in an urban landscape that is quickly running out of room?
what is being done to improve Cross purposes
our day-to-day urban experience?
“The space between buildings is incredibly important. it is the
lifeblood of the city,” says Matthew Tribe, director of urban and 
public realm design at atkins. “if you don’t get the public realm
in a city right, then the city can fail. at the same time, cities are
created by thousands, if not millions, of designers. You can create
a great plan, but if you don’t have the right land use for different
activities then these public spaces can just become canyons for
traffic – windswept, inhospitable and unpleasant.
“That idea’s been turned on its head in recent years and the idea
of liveable, walkable cities has come to the fore. From an atkins point
of view, every time we approach a regeneration or masterplan within
the built environment, the public realm is considered by the whole
team from the start.”
Take the crossing system at london’s Oxford Circus. The crossroads
where the capital’s flagship shopping thoroughfares, Oxford Street and
regent Street, meet is notorious for its heavy traffic and pedestrian
congestion. as a consequence, it is avoided by many londoners, who
prefer to use back routes or avoid going to the area at all.
atkins’ Chris greenwood, Elspeth Duxbury and Peter Heath have
been working on ways to reduce congestion and turn the area into
somewhere that might attract rather than repel visitors.
greenwood says, “The Crown Estate (the organisation that manages
the property belonging to the reigning monarch in the uK) was our
original client. it had a long-term commitment to investing in the public
realm as part of a wider strategy to improve the quality of london’s
West End as a shopping destination. When we presented our ideas to
the Crown Estate and other stakeholders like Westminster City Council
and Transport for london, it was clear that a step change in the quality
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